Thank you, Madam Speaker. This is a response to a question asked by Mr. Koe on October 31, 1994 of Mr. Kakfwi. It concerns the enforcement of land claims legislation by RCMP.
Madam Speaker, the answer to the general question of whether RCMP officers can enforce land claims is that they cannot.
Generally speaking, federal statutes that recognize and give effect to land claims do not create prohibitions nor do they contain any enforcement provisions. Thus, it is essential to recognize the limitations of the ratification legislation and the difference between such legislation and the land claims agreement.
Madam Speaker, land claims agreements identify the rights of the participants, provide for compensation as well as for the establishment of various administrative boards, including arbitration boards for dispute resolution, and prescribe the procedures that these various boards and the government are to follow in order to protect the rights of the beneficiaries. Thus, Madam Speaker, the enforcement of the collective and individual rights enshrined through claims requires actions of a primarily civil nature. As I indicated earlier in this House, recourse to arbitration boards is often mandatory when disputes over the enforcement of a land claim arise. It is, therefore, unlikely that the RCMP would be involved in any civil action to enforce the rights of land claims beneficiaries.
With regard to the honourable Member's supplementary question relating to trespass to private lands created through the settlement of claims, I again advise that RCMP would not be involved. There is no legislation in the Northwest Territories such as the Petty Trespass Acts found in other jurisdictions. In the absence of such legislation, there is therefore no offence created for trespassing on private land. It would then appear that a landowner's only remedy against a trespasser would be a civil action. The access and entry provisions of the various claims do apply to such situations but there are no enforceable provisions or offenses created through these land claims clauses which the RCMP would be called upon to enforce. Thank you, Madam Speaker.